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Christian HomeSchooling
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.... and the Homeschooled US Presidents:
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John Taylor Gatto has written an excellent Homeschooling resource called, "Underground History of American Education". Truth is a beautiful thing and I only pray more people would start seeking it... It DOES set you FREE!
A list of responses to some basic oppositions to homeschooling can be found at http://www.naturalchild.org/common_objections/index.html.
The fact that John Taylor Gatto was the 1991 recipient of the New York State Teacher of the Year Award is remarkable, since what he has to say can be of little comfort to the educational bureaucracy. “It is time,” he said in his speech at the award presentation, “that we squarely face the fact that institutional schoolteaching is destructive to children.” The essence of Gatto’s message is well summarized in the following excerpt from his book:
I’ve come to believe that genius is an exceedingly common human quality, probably natural to most of us. I didn’t want to accept that notion - far from it - my own training in two elite universities taught me that intelligence and talent distributed themselves economically over a bell curve.... the trouble was that the unlikeliest kids kept demonstrating to me at random moments so many of the hallmarks of human excellence - insight, wisdom, justice, resourcefulness, courage, originality - that I became confused. They didn’t do this often enough to make my teaching easy, but they did it often enough that I began to wonder, reluctantly, whether it was possible that being in school itself was what was dumbing them down.
Was it possible that I had been hired not to enlarge children’s power, but to diminish it? That seemed crazy on the face of it, but slowly I began to realize that the bells and the confinement, the crazy sequences, the age-segregation, the lack of privacy, the constant surveillance, and all the rest of the national curriculum of schooling were designed exactly as if someone had set out to prevent children from learning how to think and act, to coax them into addiction and dependent behavior.
The Lord blessed you and me with children and instructs us, the parents to raise them up in the fear and admonition of The Lord. Dueteronomy 6:5-7
When my son was 5 years old I felt that holy conviction to bring my son home. He attended and finished kindergarten at the local public school. But, by the time first grade had rolled around I had become a single, homeschooling mother!
Naturally, my biggest concern was how could I educate my children from home, and be the breadwinner for my family?
As I learned to lean more on God's Almighty provision, He began to open doors to allow me the privelege of being at home with my kids and make money.
He has never failed to provide for our every need. He is the Father, the Provider, and the Head of our household. He has blessed me with the ability to work from my computer doing something that I truly enjoy and reach out to other single parents who feel led to be at home.
If He calls us to do something, He will certainly provide the means. I happily believe the old expression, "If He leads you to it, He will lead you through it!"
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." James 1:17
Here is THE LIST... a must-read compilation of the Best resources for Homeschooling Single Parents. It is written by a wonderful single mother friend of mine, MaggieRaye.
HomeSchooling is simply a way of life for many families across the globe. This number continues to grow larger each year as parents begin to realize they have options when it comes to educating their children. The reasons parents choose to Homeschool are numerous.
Some of the most frequently sited reasons are listed here:
- Religious convictions (Bible-based education)
- Individualized educational plan (who knows your child better than you?)
- Unsafe public school atmosphere (when God has been removed, it is legally satan's territory)
- To strengthen family bonds and relationships (separated for over 40 hrs/week?)
- Simply in obedience to the Lord (Deut 6:5-7)
The Elijah Company was a wonderful help to me when first considering Homeschooling my children. Their Ministry is truly a God-Send.
The following is a portion of an article from their reknowned Resource Guide, entitled, "Why Homeschool Your Children?". Chris and Ellyn Davis are the authors and founders of The
Elijah Company. You may visit their new Web site here. The Elijah Company
Reason 10 | Spiritual
The contemporary homeschooling movement began mainly as a religious movement. As public schools were forced to ignore, then remove references to, and finally refute the spiritual foundations of our nation, godly
parents began to wonder about other venues for educating their children. As courts required a separation of Church and State not fathomed by the Founding Fathers, parents realized the need to take posession of their children's upbringing, not experienced since the pre-Industrial Revolution days of the mid-1800's.
When America was a young nation, its populace was industrious, hard working and highly literate. In the 1840's the Industrial Revolution began and a flood-tide of emigration moved toward our shores. This concerned our government because many of those seeking the "good life" in America were not well educated, nor did they consider an education a high priority. American educators and government officials became alarmed for the future. If an educated population is one of the main reasons a country is successful and prosperous, what would our nation's future be like if its population was not well educated?
At this very time, certain members of the federal government introduced the novel idea that the State should consider its youth, "Children of the State", rather than children of their parents. The rationale behind this thinking was that children grow up to become the adults who make a country weak or strong and it is obvious that not everyone knows what it takes to raise a child who will end up contributing positively to the nation.
Soon, certain leaders began to postulate that parents, especially parents who were Christians were actually hindering the potential for their own children. By the last 19th century, parental influence began to be seen as conflicting with governmnetal child-rearing ideals.
Compulsory school attendance laws were aimed at separating children from their parents so that new
experiments in child rearing could be tried. [We suggest a reading of the books, A Different Kind of Teacher and Going Home to School for an insider's opinion of what really drives government education].
Here is the progression: The Government decides that an educated populace is required. Then the Government mandates an educated populace (and even determines what is included in that education). Government determines that education should be the time-priority for children between the ages of six and eighteen. Given that children "belong to the State in a more real sense than they belong to their parents," the Government's priorities rule. Children are taken from their families and placed in the Government's educational system. The rightness of all this has not been questioned for over 150 years. Until now.
It is homeschooling parents who are asking the questions, "Where do academics fit among all the other priorities of life?" "As our children grow up, is it our primary goal to provide them with an academic education?" "Who knows my children well enough to provide the kind of education each one needs, the State or the parents?" If God is suggesting that there are higher priorities than academics, if there is a "bigger picture" than just making sure my children have a State-approved education, we had better find out what this "bigger picture" is!
By saying that I am homeschooling for "spiritual" reasons, I
am saying that I am raising my children to become members of a culture other than the one in which we live our natural, daily lives. Yes, my children must have an
education that will fit them to function in the 21st Century; but, I am primarily raising them to function in the culture known today as the Kingdom of God. In the
past, government schools had this same priority; today, they do their best to make sure this is not even part of a child's experience in school.
Reason 12 | For The Future
In every city and town across America groups of insecure parents are raising their own children while other parents are sending their children to the government schools. The work of these parents is mostly hidden to the rest of society which, anyway, is largely indifferent to their efforts. Many of these families have internalized a vision of their children becoming just what God intended them to become. They wonder why every parent doesn't see the obvious benefits of homeschooling.
As the world grows darker and more dangerous by the year, God's work is being done in a corner, as He prepares a generation for a day that is impossible to imagine. We parents may be taking it "a day at a time," (always wondering if we are raising a bunch of misfits); but the truth is that God is giving us just enough faith so that, if we are willing to hear Him and do something not done for over 150 years, this generation will emerge from our families with an uncomplicated faith in their God, an unmoveable disagreement with Darkness, and an unmistaken sense that they were born for such a time as this.
How about a little fun, Mom? As homeschoolers we have some of the greatest opportunities to explore our world and partcipate in "hands on learning". Education, mixed with fun, is the best way for learning to take place in my opinion. Homeschool Fun will give you a variety of information updated daily to discover with your children.
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Be sure to check out the Homeschool Buyers Co-op the nation's largest purchasing cooperative for homeschooling families!
As Christians, seeking The Lord's Will for our lives should come first when deciding upon anything! Home Education is indeed a blessing, and like anything that produces good spiritual fruit it is not always easy.
You need only a heart that desires to please God and to rear your children according to His Word to start on the Homeschooling journey. Allow The Lord to lead and direct you in your decision-making.
You will be truly blessed if God is the "Ruler" by which you measure things!
I pray that His Will be done in all of our lives and that He receive ALL the Glory, in the Precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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